When the position of Information Technology is misaligned with the expectations of its business ecosystem, the outcome is usually unhappiness. In institutions of higher education unhappiness is manifested as a general dislike for the performance of IT In turn, this causes IT’s staff to isolate themselves behind services, which are then hidden behind a layer of unusable and unenforceable policies, which makes the institution even unhappier.
A well performing technology structure must be built around internal trust that external resources (others in the institution) have the bandwidth to bear some uncertainty in the road ahead. Change as facilitated by IT requires institutional work that is only offered when there is widespread belief it will be worth it.
Building trust between IT and the institution it serves is a rewarding process that truly changes the profile of IT and, most importantly, the performance of the entire institution.